The War
by Shibarania
Summary: Not all battles are fought from without. [Eventual SASUNARU; prologue UP]


Quick history lesson on this story: Naruto's 14 (almost 15), Orochimaru and Itachi have declared war on the leaf, and stuff happens. Sasuke came back from Orochimaru when he was 14 (he's now 15). The Genins are Chuunins. Yeah.  
  
**Disclaimer:** Naruto isn't mine.  
  
  
  
**Main pairing:** SasuNaru  
**Possible side pairings:** OroIta/ItaOro  
**Genres:** Angst, Drama, Action/Adventure, Romance, Suspense, Tragedy, and possible Horror. So, basically, a soap opera.  
**Current Rating:** PG-13 for **violence, cursing, darkness, and possible character death. WILL ALSO CONTAIN YAOI.** May increase at a later point.  
  
  
  
  
  
_In the year of the Great War, fourteen years after the defeat of the Kyuubi, Uchiha Sasuke fought Uchiha Itachi. The sheer intensity of the fight was enough to earn it the title of The Battle. Uchiha Sasuke won The Battle, but at a terrible sacrifice.  
  
A sacrifice that haunted him for four years._  
  
  
  
** Prologue  
_The Battle_**  
  
  
  
Sasuke zipped through the chaotic streets of Konoha, his fiery-red Sharingan ablaze with bloodlust. There was a possessed look on his fine features.  
  
_He's here, I know he's here, I can **sense** him,_ He thought furiously. The screams of tortured commonfolk fell on deaf ears, the embers from burning homes inflicted no pain, the experience of common sense had deserted him. There was but one thing on Sasuke's mind:  
  
_Kill Uchiha Itachi!_  
  
Quite suddenly, the boy stopped, going deathly still. He seemed to be staring at a rotten tree stump, a look of utter and complete hate burning in his red eyes. He rasped but one word in a voice that was quite different from his own,  
  
"Itachi."  
  
"Sasuke," A voice replied in a much more disinterested tone. Uchiha Itachi materialized behind his brother. "How nice to see you again, little brother."  
  
Sasuke didn't bother to speak; he instead twisted around and slammed his fist into Itachi's cheek.  
  
Or, at least, what he _thought_ had been Itachi's cheek.  
  
'Itachi' turned into a lump of wood and Sasuke barely had time to dodge an unusually large shuriken as it sped over his head. Bile rose in Sasuke's throat as four cold, nimble fingers curled at his neck.  
  
"You'll have to do better than that, little brother," Itachi hissed in Sasuke's ear, reminding him far too much of a certain Sound Nin. Sasuke kicked backwards, barely grazing his brother's shin, and leapt upright. His eyes betrayed panic as they leered at the spot between Itachi's deadly, deadly eyes.  
  
"Nngh!" Sasuke grunted as Itachi's fist appeared out of nowhere and caught him in the face. He stumbled backwards and tasted the metallic sting of blood in his mouth, and thus proceeded to take the worst beating he'd ever had in his whole life. The only damage Sasuke managed to inflict within the next hour was a broken finger and a minor cut across Itachi's cheek. He himself was bruised and bleeding in multiple places, had a split lip and a fractured ankle. Itachi was winning.  
  
And then, Sasuke made his comeback.  
  
In a burst of infuriated loathing, Sasuke turned into an animal. He abandoned his training and bit, scratched, and punched anywhere he could reach. The younger boy's speed had increased to an inconceivable level, forcing Itachi to go on the defensive. Another hour later, Itachi had a few broken ribs, a severe bite wound on his shoulder (where Sasuke had torn half his clothing off in rage), a broken nose, a chunk of his right ear missing, and various other wounds. Sasuke was going to win.  
  
And then _he_ appeared.  
  
Uzumaki Naruto leapt out of a tree, an irritated look on his face. "Sasuke! Where the hell have you been?! We need you in frontal defenses, orders of the Ho...kage..." He trailed off as he saw the state Sasuke was in. "What happened to you?" He asked quizzically, looking around for the other boy's opponent.  
  
Sasuke had looked away for naught but a nanosecond, but it was the mistake that would haunt him for the rest of his life. Itachi was already had a kunai at Naruto's neck when Sasuke realized his fault.  
  
A disgustingly smug grin of malevolence creased Itachi's face as he spoke in a deadly murmur, "You saved me a lot of trouble, Naruto-kun."  
  
"I-Itachi," Naruto gasped, his stomach turning to ice at recognition of the other's voice.   
  
Sasuke was shaking with incredulous fury. "Itachi!" He spat acidly. "Don't you dare..." he started, not quite sure as to what he was going to say. Itachi's malicious grin grew wider.  
  
"Don't you dare, what, Sasuke? Don't you dare touch him? Don't you dare hurt him? Don't you dare..." He snuck a pale hand around Naruto's neck, the kunai moving lower to hover over the blonde's heart, "...kill him?"  
  
Sasuke snarled and leapt for his brother. All the air rushed out of him in a whoosh as Itachi's knee made painful contact with his stomach, leaving him gasping and motionless. The older Uchiha wasted no time in speeding off, his captive held close. However, Naruto was not one to give in to another's will.  
  
Naruto twisted and clawed viciously at his captor, trying every method he could think of to slow him down. Itachi did so, but only to chop his hand on the boy's neck, rendering him senseless. He made to start running again when something yanked violently at his hair.  
  
"Sasuke," Itachi said lowly, "you are becoming a nuisance to me."  
  
"The fuck if I care," Sasuke spat, words dripping venom. He raised a kunai, making to slash the other's face open, but Itachi ducked. The knife cut through the dark hair Sasuke held. Itachi tripped his brother and fell to his knees beside him. He grabbed the younger Uchiha's face roughly, forcing him to lock stares with him. Sasuke was instantly paralyzed.  
  
Itachi backed away slowly, pulling from his torn cloak a second giant shuriken.  
  
_I'm going to die,_ Sasuke thought, surprising himself with his calmness. Itachi's arm reared, drawing the shuriken back, then he let fly. The star sped towards him in a circular blur, and Sasuke didn't even have time to think when he heard it.  
  
_SS-THUNK_.  
  
Sasuke's eyes widened as blood splattered everywhere, the sharp star ripping through the flesh.  
  
Blood and flesh that was not his own.  
  
Above him, a single spoke of the massive shuriken protruded from Naruto's stomach as the blond stood over him. Naruto coughed – a wet, rasping sound – and blood dripped from his mouth. He peered at the horrified boy below him through watering eyes, squinting as if he couldn't see him.  
  
"Nah...Naru..." Sasuke stuttered incredulously, in a state of shock. Naruto's knees gave out, and he fell to the ground. Sasuke managed to catch him before the shuriken drove in any deeper.  
  
Sasuke's eyes stung, his stomach churned, and his chest tightened. He couldn't think, couldn't speak, couldn't do _anything_ other than hold on to Naruto with a grip so tight it was a wonder the blond wasn't squirming in discomfort. Sasuke's throat tightened with an unexlpainable emotion.  
  
"N-Naruto, y-you—why did you--" Sasuke babbled, feeling his face go hot, then cold in horror.  
  
Naruto lifted a shaky hand to place it on Sasuke's lips, successfully quieting the hysterical boy. "Did it...because...of th-this..." he pressed his free hand to his faltering heart, the other hand leaving Sasuke's lips.  
  
An icicle stabbed at Sasuke's heart, beating opposite to Naruto's in a frantic drum. _Please, not again, not again--_ "Naruto--you...you can't l-leave me, please, _please_ don't--" he choked.  
Naruto lifted his head from where it rested on Sasuke's chest, and gave a wobbly smile. He crooked his finger, indicating Sasuke to come closer, and the other boy did so. Naruto began to sing in an almost tune-less whisper.  
  
"_Kitta, kitta, kitta, soshite shinu toki kisu wo shinasai,  
inochi de wa, setsujitsu na inochi ga ibuki no nake de;  
kisu wo suru toki, haka de netemo,  
nobotte Shi no obigane wo kowasu._"*  
  
Then, quite suddenly (and perhaps ironically), Naruto's lashes fluttered, his muscles giving a brief spasm, and then he was totally still. He chest ceased it's labored movement, and the boy went limp in the other's pale arms. Sasuke's eyes, long since back to thier dark coal black, widened to an almost insane size as he watched his rival, his friend, his _reason for living_, die.  
  
"N-Naru--" he sobbed, and clutched the dead boy to him tightly. He lowered his head, squeezing his eyes shut against the onslaught of tears that threatened to break through his emotional dam, and placed a feather-light kiss to the other's forehead. Then the barrier shattered, and he began openly wailing.  
  
Sasuke had never cried so hard in his _life_. He cried louder, harder than he had when he had seen his _parents_ dead. He thought the pain would _never_ stop, and just when he thought he had cried himself dry, more tears flooded out of his eyes. For the second time in his relatively short life, Sasuke had seen the one he held most dear to him killed.  
  
The distraught boy gave an astonished cry as someing grabbed a handful of his hair and jerked his head back, sending needles of pain shooting across his scalp.  
  
"You made me kill the Kyuubi, little brother," Itachi's voice, laced with venom and fury, hissed in his ear. "You will be punished."  
  
"Damn you," Sasuke whispered shakily, and winced as the hand gripped tighter.  
  
"Silence!" Itachi roared, making Sasuke's ears ring. "You will wish you were dead a thousand times over again when I am through with you." Sasuke shook in fear at the horribly spiteful tone that was in his brother's voice, and knew he wasn't lying.  
  
But a single glance at his dead compainion, and Sasuke's fear was replaced by a searing hatred more powerful that ever before. Instantly, his eyes shifted into the blood red of the Sharingan, and he felt enourmous energy arising from deep within him. He grit his teeth so hard he could almost _hear_ the enamel cracking.  
  
"I..._hate_...you," He snarled out, chakra crackling around a white-knuckled fist in a familiar manner. Itachi's grip slackened slightly, showing that he was a bit shocked at his brother's surge of energy. A large, circular ball of glowing chakra fizzled into existance around Sasuke's hand, growing larger with every drop of loathing he poured into it. In no time at all, a Chidori twice the size as any Kakashi had ever created was surrounding his hand.  
  
Itachi was scared.  
  
Sasuke jerked out of Itachi's now limp grip, turning to face him with an utterly insane look twisted onto his features. The slightest whimper of fear fell from Itachi's lips, and it sent a shiver of joy don't Sasuke's spine.  
  
Killing Itachi wouldn't bring his loved ones back, but he could sure as hell try.  
  
"_Burn in hell!_" Sasuke roared, and came at his brother with godlike speed. Itachi was too petrified to move; all of his ANBU training abandoned him in the one moment he needed it most.  
  
Then, in one earth-shattering moment, Sasuke's fist connected with Itachi's face. The younger Uchiha felt meat and bone incinerate underneath his burning hand, and as soon as it had happened, it was over.  
  
The decapitated body of Uchiha Itachi fell over, dead.  
  
Sasuke had but a few seconds to glance at his victory, before his vision went black and his knees buckled. He was unconsious before he ever hit the ground, thought just before the darkness took him, he whispered one word:  
  
"Naruto..."   
  
  
  
_"...So they never found his body?  
  
"Yeah, that's what they say. Probably got disenegrated, y'know, with all the chakra Uchiha-sama put into that Chidori. I mean, hell, you'd have to be freakin' __invincible_ to survive that."  
  
"Yeah, you're probably right...but...what if he's alive?"  
  
"Naw. Kyuubi or not, like I said nobody coulda survived that intact!"  
  
"Mm...maybe."  
  
  
  
  
  
**_End Prologue. TBC._**   
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
I guess I was in an angsty mood when I wrote this. Just so you guys know, this _will be SasuNaru_ so don't go assuming that Naruto's dead or nothin'. Oh, and ah—critisizm is allus welcome~!  
  
**Sassy Sasuke**: Lord knows you need it...  
  
**Shibby**:...*threatens to write an Akamaru/Sasuke fic*  
  
**Naughty Naruto**: NO! DON'T DO IT! THINK OF THE _CHILDREN!_  
  
**Sassy Sasuke:** O_O You win.  
  
Review!  
  
*_Come, come, come, and kiss me when I die,  
for life, compelling life, is in thy breath;  
And at that kiss, though in the tomb I lie,  
I will arise and break the bands of Death._  
  
Just so you know, I DID NOT WRITE THE ABOVE SONG. I found it on another fic, and I don't know if the author(ess) wrote it, or if it's an actual song. Either way, credit does NOT go to me for these lyrics. 


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